And While Speaking of Photographic History

The complete photographic history of photography can be found right here at National Geographic. Hey, if you are in the business, this is worth a peek. It's a fascinating look at some of photograph's firsts - like first photo of a person - 1839, first bird's eye view - 1858, first color photo - 1861, first action photo - 1878. And wait, there's more - National Geographic is also making about gazillion of their great images available as "wallpaper" for your computer for free! (Thanks to Photojojo for that tip.)

So Can You See Light

It all depends on it shape - here's a great lighting article over at Photography 101. It's not just about a light when it comes to portrait lighting, it's about the size of the light. Michael Ray has put together a very thorough article on the subject showing twelve different light sources, their size and shape, and the effect it has on the highlights and shadows of the subject - very good info here.

An Now a Free Holiday Gift From Me

Well, not really from me, but at least you heard it from me today. How about a FREE set of brushes? You can get them right here at PhotoshopSupport.com along with a nice random brush tip. This is actually a pretty cool link with lots of good Photoshop stuff. Take a cruise around the site - goodies galore!

An Speaking of Gift Giving

I found this great story over at PhotoSwitch - "7 Innovative Ways to Thank Your Client During the Holidays". You know, it's just good "down to earth" PR. Their tips are fun, funny and useful when it comes down to those guerrilla marketing tactic we talked about this past Technique Tuesday.

Here was my favorite - buy a sheep. One of the suggestions was making a donation on your client's behalf to do something good for the world - wait, hear me out on this - there's a beautiful idea here. It seems Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization, has a website set up where you can make a donation on anyone's behalf and have that donation leverage some very good results around the world. The gift items symbolically represent the work of Oxfam America in 26 countries.

Your recipient gets a personalized card -- and your donation helps people living in poverty throughout the world. Here is the Oxfam America gift link right here. Worried about someone pocketing the donation - OxFam America is one of the 4-Star charities listed over at CharityNavigator which monitors charities everywhere. You can check it out yourself right here.

Hey gang, that's about it for the day - have a great weekend and I'll see you next week. --David

"Ice Blue Party"
© David A. Ziser

This image is from a wedding we are currently in the process of delivering to our client. The client had a beautiful wedding and this image shows a "scene-setter" from their reception. I grab these images just moments before the guests enter the room so these photographs are aways hand held shots made on the run as I move quickly around and through the venue. Getting the wedding cake to stand out from all the surrounding dark tones accented by the lighting decor is always an exposure challenge - especially for a JPEG shooter like me. How do I do it - zoom to the cake, adjust the exposure till the cake is not "blowing" out as indicated by the histogram or "blinkies" on my newer 40D, zoom back to desired composition and shoot away. Camera specs; Canon 5D with 24-105mm IS lens at 28mm, F6.3 @1/13 second at ISO 800.

Enjoy! --David

Creative Thinking Thursday

Good Morning Everybody,
Welcome to "Creative Thinking Thursday" - no this is not going to be a weekly feature around here, but I thought today's stories certainly spoke to the topic. Each day I hit the web - usually very early in the morning so as to not to cut too much into my real job as a wedding/portrait photographer. I'm looking for stories our readers would enjoy. One link pops me to another and every now and then little jewel pops up.

Let me share my latest favs with you. Each posting today is about complete out of the box thinking - Brian Shaler again with his unique motion photography video, the ever popular and prolific blogger, Brian Auer with many different ways to think about portrait photography, a concept camera that you wish would be real, and photography from the Masters. Yes, all in one place you saw it here. It's a nice read today, Enjoy! --David

P.S. Wait, There's More

In an effort to bring more content to our readers, I just added - like in today posting- a new feature to the blog. It's called "From the Blogsphere" and features stories for our like-minded readers here at DigitalProTalk.com. It runs in the right hand column just after my "Latest Digital News Items" - you can't miss it.

Now here is what's cool - you hit a link in that window and it takes you to the site featured and on that site is a new set of like-minded links - most of which are pretty relevant. Heck, you could spend an entire rainy day link hopping - kind of fun. I'll let it run a while - let me know what you think - my first impression - I like it. And wait, there's still more - the "Latest Digital News Items" update about once a week, so keep an eye on them too. You can see all the past items by hitting the "Read More" link at the bottom of the listing.

Motion Alone

Mazda CX-9 in motion
Originally uploaded by Fotizmo

Freeze me but let the world fly on by - that's what Brian Shaler has done on a few of his tutorials. We featured his "Escalator" motion tutorial a few weeks ago - here's that link again.

This time Brian has used the same idea - locking down the camera on a moving object - and pulled off a very cool series of images of cars in motion, or should I say, motion around cars. Check out Brian's tutorial complete right here. You can check out his Flickr series of car images right here. Or just watch his cool video right after this post. Out of the box thinking - Thumbs Up!

No Humdrum Portraits Here

147 of 365 - just dandy
Originally uploaded by paul+photos=moody

Shakin' and Bakin' to some great new portrait looks - that's what Brian Auer over at EpicEdits was looking for when he went searching the Flickr pool for alternative - but still well done portrait images. He has put together a nice collection of images along with commentary on each style.

The article is a good "brain cob-web" cleaner for any portrait photog out there. Here is Brian's link to "16 Inspirational Portrait Photography Techniques" right here. Good stuff, Brian. How about another good portrait link on the same subject over at PhotoCritc right here.

Concept Camera - Not Even Available From B&H

This is an ultimate "Out of Box" thinking concept. Check out this story on the Triops camera. Triops is a robust digital triple-lens camera which reacts to sound, motion or manual triggers and was nominated as a finalist in the BraunPrize 2007 Awards. No demo pictures available - because it doesn't exist, but it would be cool if it did. Where are those venture capital firms when you need them. Here is the entire Triops camera story right here.

Early Out of the Box Thinkers

Masters are always Masters - I'm wrapping the posts today with with this short video following this post featuring the work of photographic masters of years gone by - inspirational then and now. Well, gang, that about wraps up our first "Creative Thinking" Thursday. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm sure there will be more down the road. Keep those "Thinking Caps" charged up and put them on now and then. See ya' tomorrow, --David

"Surrounded By Beauty"
© David A. Ziser
I made this image while doing what I call my "scene setter" series at this wedding reception venue which happened to be at the Cincinnati Art Museum. This is a fairly popular venue in Cincy because of the unusual architecture of the room as you can see. For this image, I placed Sigma's 8mm Fisheye on my Canon 30D. I explored the composition I found that I really liked the view of the calla lilys not just in the foreground but almost completely surrounding the top proportion of the room as well. Granted the Fisheye lens adds to this effect, but I think the curved lines of the calla lilys together with the curved lines of the room further accented by the curvature of the image elements with the use of the Fisheye lens combine for a very unusual and quite dramatic view. Camera specs, F4 @ 1/10 second, hand-held at IS 1000. Enjoy! --David

Wednesday Musings

Good Afternoon Everybody,
Yep, I'm just musing today - not rushing around, just "musing". So what's happening on this musing day? Well, check out the story on John Coffer below - you talk about a guy who has taken a different approach to photography - and I mean really different. Also check out the "No Color Fall" post - pretty cool what a long lens can do. Also, beware shopping for cameras in Mexico??? And, breaking news - a great set of Lightroom tutorials. Off we go...

Maybe I Don't Speak the Language

But I can still read the price - and the price was $68,868.61 - sure that's pesos, but that still translates into $6,376.66 USD!!! While in Cabo a few weeks back, my buddy Kent and I hit the Sam's Club just to see how they compare to our US store versions. They are pretty much the same except for these camera prices. The same Nikon D2X sells at B&H for $2000 less than in Cabo at $4299 last time I checked. Maybe our dollar isn't so strong right now in the international scheme of things but our camera prices sure are a lot better :~)

Beautiful Photographs in the No-Color Fall

It's the day before Thanksgiving and I promised a friend that I would photograph her daughter in the beautiful outdoor surrounds. The problem was that the "outdoor surrounds" were quickly disappearing as we were late into November and most of the fall color was gone - or so one would think. But you know, a bit of color and a long lens - I chose my 70-200 IS F2.8 Canon on my 40D - can go a long way in adding a lot of color to the scene.

Here is the reason - a the long focal length with the 1.6x magnification on the 40D expands and blurs the background giving a wonderfully beautiful and pleasing background for my subject. So, all I had to do was find my little patches of color. The beautiful direction of light was created with my off camera flash set to the appropriate output to give me properly exposed highlights while underexposing the ambient which gave me just the right amount of fill light. The lighting and selective focus of the long lens combined to give a great set of images for Lindsey. A beautiful sunset at the end of the shoot was the icing on the cake. Hit the "PLAY" button below to see a few selected images from the shoot.

A Giant Step Back In Time With John Coffer

So you thing you have found your niche in photography - you ain't seen nottin' yet. Check out this story about "Tin Type" master - John Coffer. I ran across this story over at the New York Times - it is utterly fascinating story. Mr. Coffer has revived and perfected the old "tintype" image process. He has produced some really usually results - they look like they were produced way back in the 1860's.

Part of the images "look and feel" is because of the subject matter - scenes from around John's farm look like they did in the 1860's. Here is the rest of the story - John's farm is a step back in time too no electric, no running water, but he does have a solar powered computer. Here is the link to John Coffer's story. And here is a link to a live interview with the master too. Worth a read and listen.

A Great Set of Lightroom Tutorials

WOW! There gold in them there hills - sorry still in my 1800's frame set. Check out this great set of high quality Lightroom tutorials over at RawWorkFlow.com right here - over 2 1/2 hours of instruction to get you started on your Lightroom journey. Quite the find here gang, check it out.

Well, that's about it for today, we are still tying up some loose ends around here and I have a few clients later today so I'm off to my real job. Have a great rest of the day, and I'll see everyone tomorrow. --David

"Arabesque"
© David A. Ziser
I was just sitting with a client last evening reviewing her images when this one popped up. I had forgotten I had taken it. She loved it, I loved it and thought today I would share the image with our readers. It was made as part of a series of "scene setters" for my clients wedding. "Scene setters" are those images that capture the little nuances of the day - flowers, decor, lace of the gown, etc. I really liked this particular flower and went in really close with a wide aperture. The very shallow focus let the surrounding parts of the flower go in and out of focus while I maintained strong focus on the center elements. It's this wonderful arabesque of line and vibrant color that give the image its strength and gentleness simultaneously. Camera specs; Canon 5D with 50mm lens, F 1.4 @ 1/30 second at ISO 1600. Enjoy! --David

Technique Tuesday 12.11.07

Good afternoon everybody and welcome to this week's Technique Tuesday. I think this is a pretty cool episode this week so be sure to check "Winter Wonderland out below. Don't miss the marketing piece too - some good suggestions - 120 of them included. We are working nicely through our holiday rush and should be pretty well wrapped by Friday - just in time to get some shopping in. And speaking of shopping check out the "No Problem Shopping" piece - 2 really good sites to help you research your next camera (or electronic) purchase. At the end of today's read, you got to watch this video, so on with the show...

Winter Wonderland Any Time of the Year

So here was the challenge - create 8 banners showing my client frolicking in a winter wonderland - in November in Cincy - no plane fare included. I knew I could pull it off, but getting a handle on the "Extract" tool in Photoshop, thanks in part to a well timed article in the latest (December) issue of Photoshop User magazine made it pretty darn easy. So in this week's "Technique Tuesday" I'll step you through the entire process right here and show you the finished result as displayed at the party. Enjoy! --David

Self Promotion Ideas - A Few of These Have Got to Work For Me

"You have got to blow your own horn, because nobody else is going to blow it for you," so said Will Rogers years ago, and he was a terrific self promoter. I have been a fan of guerrilla marketing tactics since the book came out years ago when I was in the early stages of my own studio's development. This article hits the self promotion target with 120 good ideas, and mostly for free, on how you can promote yourself. Here is the link to the 120 Self-Promotion ideas right here. The article was written for graphic design freelancers but sure is dead on for any up and coming small business.

Catalyst Perspectives, a publication dedicated to advancing woman in business has a great piece entitled, "Axioms For Advancement". The article is not "gender specific" - the advice is no-nonsense" stuff we should all take to heart in our businesses. Here is the link to "Axioms for Advancement" right here - both excellent reads.

Shopping For A New Camera - No Problem With Finding the Best

The Internet continues to make it easier and easier. I just recently read about this site in Business Week or Time. It's called Retrevo.com and is about the slickest way to get info on anything electronic - cameras included. The cool thing about the site is that they also gives you feed back from reviewers and consumers on the particular item you are researching. You can check out Retrevo.com right here.

Along that same line is DigitalCameraTracker right here. This sites also combines the reviews of several sites and lets you know if the camera is "hot" or if it is "not". Both sites good resources for checking out that next purchase.

An Totally Unrelated to Photography But Worth a Peek

Please sit down as you watch this video - hit the link right here or full screen right here (go ahead - do it full screen) then quickly grab onto your chair and hold on for the ride. I caught this over at Matt Adcock's site - Flash Flavor. Heck, we are both wedding photographers and I guess these kinds of videos appeal to us - not the sport (those guys are crazy) but the video. Just watching it is a rush! A nice Tuesday Diversion.

OK, gang, I'm pulling my white knuckles from the chair and heading back to work. Hope you enjoyed Technique Tuesday. Have a good one, and I'll see you tomorrow. -- David

"Sealed With A Kiss"
© David A. Ziser
I made this image just as the bride and groom exited this beautiful cathedral. I asked them to just pause a minute for me on the church steps and give each other a kiss. My assistant was about 10 feet behind them with my Quantum T5d flash which was fired remotely by my Quantum Freewire radio transmitter. I slowed down the shutter to pick up the ambient light of the cathedral's door way. The flash exposure together with the ambient combined for a quite dramatic image of the couple which was one of their (and my) favorite images. Camera specs: Canon 5D fitted with 24-105mm lens at 24mm, F5.6 @ 1/13 second at 400 ISO.

Enjoy! --David

Monday Afternoon Happenings

Welcome to late blog Monday.
A little Monday morning quarterbacking with my team here at the studio has put the blog into "afternoon" post mode today. This week is our last big "push" week to get everything delivered for the holidays. And good news - it looks like we are in fine shape. We got our 9 volume wedding off to the bookbinders, the large portraits are for the most part wrapped, and several small reorders will be ready for delivery by this Thursday. So the pressure is off just a bit. So how about on with some Monday afternoon happenings...

Nikon vs. Canon - Noise Issues

Look, not much noise here - the story I ran last week on the low noise offerings on the new Nikon D3 and Canon 1Ds Mark III - here is the link again to "Not Too Noisy Around Here" - which showed Nikon as the new low noise winner. Over the weekend, I noticed our friends over at Luminous-Landscape happened to run their series of tests and got the same result. They ran their informal tests up to 25,600 ISO! Here is the link to the Luminous-Landscape story. They also pointed to another story over at PhotoBusinessForum that also showed the same result. You can read the in-depth article from PhotoBusinessForum right here. Come on, Canon, let's get cooking on the those higher ISO's.

Become a Histogram Black Belt

I know what you are thinking - but, I already understand all I need to know about histograms. You just think you know it all. Here is another article on histograms -- WAIT!!! - keep reading. This article puts a whole new spin on histograms. Suppose you shoot in another color space or even in 16 bit - how does the histogram vary in those situations? Well, "grasshopper", you can now get these answers and more over at PPAMag in there very thorough, and well illustrated article right here. Only after reading this piece, can you then become a "Histogram Master."

Become An Intermediate Level Photoshop Guru

I always said it, if you understand Layers, you can hit the "Intermediate" slopes in Photoshop. Here is a nice little tutorial on the subject. Hit the PopPhoto Photoshop Levels link right here. Read the intro then hit the slide show link. It will pace you right through the entire tutorial. Good info. Kind of cool the way they set it up.

And Now For The Rest of the Story

If you have not seen Rob Galbraith's articles on the Canon Mark III focus issues - and they have been extensive articles - here is his last installment to date as to how it relates to Canon's new fix. Here is the link to his 6500 word article right here. Hey gang, got a late start today, and client on the way, so I'm out of here. See you tomorrow for a very special "Technique Tuesday." Have a good one. --David

"Mysteries Abound"
© David A. Ziser
One of my favorite images from a trip to New Orleans a few years ago - just 10 days before Katrina. I had just given a program to the Professional Photographers of Louisiana. One of it's members offered to take us "swamping" in his boat a few days later. We were lucky to have traveled the bayou where many tourists never get to see. This beautiful landscape was captured as we were zipping past the large stand of Cyprus trees. I only had a moment to grab the shot, had no clue what my settings were, I just hit the shutter button. Had I had more time to set up for the shot, ISO and shutter speed would have been reduced considerably. I love the colors and the mysterious feeling of the image. Camera specs: Canon 20D fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 145mm; F9 # 1/1600 second at ISO 1600. Enjoy! --David

Good Morning Friday

Good Morning Everybody,
We are wrapping up a whirlwind week around here and it looks like there may even be a little light at the end of the tunnel. Heck, LaDawn and I are even heading out for a little holiday shopping this afternoon (after one more tiny shoot for my Bat Mitzvah tomorrow.) Plans are for a nice dinner and a little R&R - I think this is important because I don't think the urgency of the studio holiday rush should be traded for what the season really means - a time of peoples coming together celebrating faiths, family, and dare I be politically incorrect and say "Peace on Earth".

As crazy as this may sound, I believe this should be a centering time for many of us in spite of the nuttiness of the "million mile an hour" pace many of us try to keep in our businesses and our lives - the is the time of the year to take a deep breath, hit the "pause button" on our lives at least for a short minute or two, and enjoy the season. And now, stepping off of my soap box, how about some Friday views and news...

Slow Down, We Are Moving To Fast...

Holiday rush! We Wedding/Portrait photographers go through it every year. Sometimes its kind of difficult to balance the urgency, chaos and the frenetic craziness of a photography studio's rush season with the holiday spirit. Each year photographers promise themselves a better plan for the next year to avoid the stress and strain. Yet, the next year we find ourselves in that very same situation, and it continues year after year.

Hey, my studio was no different in the beginning - we were crazy every year, but then we came up with a plan to alleviate most to the craziness. In reality, it just better planning and has worked quite well for our holiday rush over (most) of the last several years. Here are the key points of our plan:

1. When it comes to album delivery, Holiday cut off is the 1st of October. Album orders must be placed by September 30 for us to deliver by Christmas. Chanukah may be a bit earlier cut off depending on when it falls in December.
   
2. Reprints for those clients will be delivered in time for the holidays.
   
3. We will continue to promise Holiday delivery on Portrait orders and wedding orders up to Friday the week before Christmas. We print everything in house so we have some added efficiencies here.
   
4. Work with your preferred vendors. If you are a really good client, they may honor a "one favor a year" request at the holidays and process an order for you after their cut off. (I can think of one of my vendor buddies who is giving me favor #2 - you know who you are and thanks again.)
   
5. As the time crunch gets tighter, review the work in process and see what can be postponed till after the rush. Give these clients a call and ask if it is OK to deliver after the holidays. You may also offer them a little "Thank You" incentive for letting you make their delivery shortly after the holidays. This is a great safety valve for the holiday rush. When you start calling those few clients that may relieve some of the delivery stress, it's amazing to me how many say "no problem" - they were going to out of town, etc. We were actually in that mode last week and one call lightened our commitment load quite a bit. But remember, if you can still pull off the delivery, by all means, do it. In our situation, it looks like we can still deliver by the holidays, but should something happen, I'm still covered for an after Christmas delivery without customer disappointment.

That's pretty much it - this is some of my best advise to all you studio owners out there still fretting over these next two weeks. So take a deep breath and try to really enjoy the season!

So Who Knows For Sure?

Santa Christmas Pictures - When did they start? - Who was the first to offer them? I thought this would be a fun holiday piece for our portrait photog friends out there and so I started a little research a few days ago. Unfortunately, so far I'm stumped. My research did uncover-- that in 1841, J.W. Parkinson, a Philadelphia merchant, hired a man to dress up in a "Criscringle" outfit and climb the chimney of his store. The Parkinson's department store in Brockton, Massachusetts, became the father of department Santa's when it hired Edgar, a Scottish immigrant, who was tall, roly-poly, with a genuine white beard, a warm, comforting voice and a hearty laugh, to be Santa Claus." That was in 1841, way before cameras.

It was forty more years before the concept really caught on, but that takes us to 1881 and Mr. Eastman had not yet invented his Kodak camera. That happened in 1888. Were the first Santa pictures in B&W? You would think so - I found some images dating back to 1944, alas my own picture in Santa's lap dates back to 1954. Yikes!! Shhh, don't tell LaDawn she thinks I'm much younger!

Kodak introduced their portrait film in 1913, but that was sheet film, so I think that takes us to a later date. They finally got around to inventing their Kodacolor film in 1928, but that was in 16mm format for amature cinematographers. Kodacolor film wasn't available for general use until 1942, so color Santa pictures had to be still later than that.

But still the burning question - Who took that first Santa picture? I am deferring to our worldwide readership for some insight into this photographic mystery. Let me know if you have any additional information, or even a photo of you sitting on Santa's lap prior to 1944.

And While We Are Discussing For Mysteries of the Universe

Does anyone have any updates on Imaging Insider's website? It has been off the air since November 15th. The site was a great source for everything photography, but after their last posting about being mirrored, they have fallen off the radar. I'll keep checking.

And On A Completely Non - Holiday Note

Boston Globe staff photographer, Bill Green, had his images of several Iraq veterans and their families whose lives have been forever changed by the war selected as the Grand Prize winning 2007 images of the year by Editor and Publisher - America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry. Here is the link to the Grand Prize winning images along with an interview with the photographer - important events we still need to pay attention to, especially during this holiday season.

Wait, There's More

But ending on a light Holiday note - if you want the absolute best info on how to shoot Christmas ornaments this holiday - here is the article for you right here over at Adidap. It's a nice (not "fluff") article on the subject with a lot of good detailed info. Heck, I didn't even know about this line of photography, but I'm taking my camera with me to the mall today! Hey, that's it for this week, gang. Have a great weekend and I will see you Monday, same time (sorta) but always the same place. --David

"Hobbit's Trail"
© David A. Ziser
I love the colors and simplicity of this image. It was made while on a trip to Northern Scotland last November. LaDawn and I were taking a little hike around the beautiful Craigellachie Nature Reserve at the base of the Cairngorm mountains in Aviemore, just south on Inverness, Scotland. Needless to say, we were well into fall season - not many leaves on the trees at this point. On top of that, we were just south of the Artic Circle - I make this point because the foliage and fauna were just beautiful to behold on this brisk day. This image is of a stand of trees that seem to just disappear into the forest. I increased the saturation of the scene a bit in Photoshop to give the image more of the fantasy feeling the title implied. Camera Specs - Canon 5D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm; F 5.6 @ 1/6 second at ISO 400. Enjoy! --David

A Gorgeous Thursday

Good Morning Everybody,
Here in Cincy, we all woke up to a beautiful bright icy day with the sun glistening off the fresh fallen snow, the landscape presenting itself as acres of diamonds before us beckoning each of us to enjoy nature's splendid beauty. Boy, I love that kind of talk - makes me want to head right on outside, take a deep breath, and say, "Good Morning Sunshine!" Yep, it's a pretty day around here. So as I wax in the "light fantastic" here this morning, let me point you to some interesting items happening around the net today. Off we go...

So You Woke Up This Morning And Don't Like What You See In the Mirror

Well, do we have the solution for you - It's called PortraitProfessional. OK, it won't change your looks any better than that first cup of coffee in the morning, but for those 8x10 or smaller portraits you give the family for the holidays, it might just be the ticket.

OK, all kidding aside, I came across this story over at Imaging-Resource, they have an entire review of Portrait Professional software right here. It seems utterly fascinating as to what it can achieve for facial makeovers. It does face shaping, skin smoothing, red -eye, and a ton more. Check it out - it certainly got my attention.

Dead Again! I Want A New Charge Out of Life!

Don't you hate that when that happens - you grab your recently charged rechargeable batteries, throw them in your portable flash and you get about twenty shots out of them. I have been using the EverReady rechargeable batteries in my gear for the last three years or maybe even longer. When they are fresh, they work great, but as they age, the memory makes them a little less reliable. I literally charge all my batteries on the day of the job just to be sure I get the sustained flash power I need. Don't get me wrong, all works well, but it is a bit inconvenient if I load up a nearly dead set of batteries.

I do keep my batteries numbered in sets as Brian Auer suggested last week over at EpicEdits - not doing that really adds to the possible headaches of what's dead and what's not. Usually I pitch the set at the end of the evening, head to Sam's Club the next day and pick up a few more sets. A few months ago, I saw a couple of stories talking about these new Lithium-Ion rechargeables that hold their charge quite a bit longer and "memory" is not such a problem. Then I was cruising our buddies, 1001 Noisy Cameras, and saw they were selling several versions of the new batteries in the right hand column of their site. Not two days later, a review of the Sanyo Eneloop batteries over at Imaging-Resource. There's was quite a lengthy review with some very helpful reader feedback.

These batteries do seem to be the way to go for us wedding and event shooters. Hey, they don't break the bank, and they make a small portion of our lives a bit simpler - I would go check them out. Here is the Imaging-Resource review right here. Here is the 1001 Noisy Cameras link right here - just scroll down a bit, the batteries are on the right side.

I Wish I Could Ask Harry Benson That Question.

Well, now you can over at Kingston technology's site. Suppose you could contact Harry Benson who has photographed every president since Eisenhower; Colin Finlay, five time Picture of the Year award winner; Gerg Ludwig, National Geographic photographer; or Peter Read Miller, from Sports Illustrated. Here they are, just a click or two away.

Head over to Kingston's Icon's of Photography and drop them a line - just hit the "Ask the Icon" button. You will get a personal answer from whomever you contact. Pretty cool to have the ear and the opportunity to obtain some advice from one of the Master's themselves.

And For The Wedding Shooters Out There

18 Surefire Rules For Managing Your Wedding Couple - that's the title of the article over at PPAMag by editor Jeff Kent and wedding and portrait photographer, Kay Eskridge. For you guys and girls with upcoming weddings - maybe even this weekend - this is good practical advice for making your day go a bit more smoothly. Hey gang, that's about it for today - I have a big Bat Mitzvah shoot this weekend and we are doing some preliminary shots today so I've got to run. Have a great one, and I'll see you tomorrow. --David

"Beautiful Eyes"
© David A. Ziser

This beautiful bride was photographed at her wedding just an hour before she walked down the aisle. She had these beautiful eyes that I wanted to feature in this image. I asked her to cover most of her face with her bouquet and look directly back into the camera. I know I had the image as soon as I looked through the viewfinder. Lighting is all natural.
Camera specs: Canon 5D fitted with 70-300mm DO IS lens at 30mm; F5.6 @ 1/125 second. ISO 400.

Enjoy! --David

Midnight Oil - Wednesday

Good Morning Everybody,
Well, we got off to a late start yesterday, but are pretty much back to normal production today. Part of our time crunch is this "small little banner project" I mentioned Monday. I started two more last night about midnight, got up and checked on them about 4:00 a.m. and found I had a clogged Magenta nozzle - needless to say the color was off just a bit - arrgg! After two wasted green shadow banners and a wasted 5 hours later - we now have squeaky clean Magenta nozzles and are off again. The presses are rolling and things are looking good. I try to look at the bright side - I get an early start on the postings :-) OK, so what have I discovered in my midnight madness? Well, let me tell you...

I'm Doing My Term Paper On Dodging and Burning

Who ever thought there could be so much info on Dodging and Burning. I showed my "Dodge and Burn Cha-Cha" tutorial yesterday and I just found this new tutorial on the same subject today. It's the same subject, but different technique. Award winning fashion photographer, Jake Garn, actually uses the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop. You can check out his video right here. He does a good job showing how he retouches a portrait shoot to get to the final result - only about 11 minutes long - you can pick up some good pointers here, especially in the facial analysis department.

But wait, there's more right here. Check out this video below that takes our model from "before" to "after" in 1:15 seconds - you will be blown away by the "After."

Not Too Noisy Here Anymore - More on Camera Speed

And the new low noise winner is... Take a peek at these two links over at Imaging-Resource. They recently posted images from Nikon's D3 showing ISO's up to 6400 right here, and Canon's 1Ds Mark III with ISO's up to 3200 right here. I have to say, I was blown away by the Nikon's extremely low noise at that "monster" ISO setting.

I downloaded both high res files and brought them into Photoshop for closer inspection - the Nikon image was amazing. That is not to say that the Canon image at ISO 3200 was bad, but it just was not as noise free. I ran both through one of my favorite noise reduction software tools - Noise Ninja because it shows a relative "noise index" of the image after being profiled. I like to guess what the "noise index" will be before I profile the image. (I know, simple minds, simple pleasures.)

I ran the Nikon ISO 6400 image through first, it's noise index showed 36 - a little noisy but not to bad, and remember, we are at ISO 6400!!! Next, I ran the Canon ISO 3200 image through - noise index 50 - pretty darn high, and the Canon image was half the Nikon ISO 6400 image. Canon has been the "low noise, high ISO" leader for quite a while, but the baton now clearly goes to Nikon.

And People Think My Photos are Expensive

So how much would you spend on an 8x10?? That famous price question has a good answer in this article entitled, "The Most Expensive Photographs Ever Sold right here at Photoprenuer. The big money getter was Andreas Gursky’s “99 Cent II Diptych” which sold for $3,350,000. Sure it was a big print - 7' x 11' - but that translates into a little more that $24,000 per 8x10 section of the print. Mr. Gursky sold another copy of the same print in April for 2,250,000 million - not bad work for the first four months of the year. Man, I've got to raise my prices. You can read more about this 52 year old photographer, Mr. Gursky, right here. Maybe I am in the wrong line of work :~)

So What Do You Charge?

Maybe you are just a bit too cheap, maybe too much?? Here is a quick and handy guide that will help you decide right here at Freelance Switch. Give it a read and see where you fit, check your price structure, then read the article above again. Hey, gang that's it for today, I'm back to the banners - have a good one everybody. See you tomorrow. --David

"Edge Of Purgatory"
© David A. Ziser
I made this image while in Hawaii earlier this year. Yes, this is lava flowing. LaDawn and I made the trek into the lava fields on the Big Island - 3.5 miles in and 3.5 miles out - like being 7 miles on a StairMaster machine. The hike was absolutely beautiful though - black barren landscape everywhere - the scope of the cool hardened lava formations was truly exquisite in so many instances. After trekking in for a few hours, we saw the lava start to flow from the rocks - again, utterly fascinating. the sun was nearly set when I made this image. The challenge was to hold detail in the surrounding cool black lava and the 2000 degree molten rock was heading towards us. Not to worry too much though - I was using my Canon 70-300 DO IS lens racked out to 180mm on my 30D. In effect that gave me a almost a 300mm optic with the APS sensor on the 30D. A little work in Photoshop restored some of the detail in the black surrounding lava. Exposure was F5.0 at 1/80 second at ISO 800 - Jpeg. Enjoy! --David

Technique Tuesday 12.04.07

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Yep, it's technique Tuesday again and I feel like a kid that didn't quite get all his homework done. We are super busy right now with studio orders and deliveries going on. I was even shooting an 18th birthday party at 6:30 this morning but that's a story for another day, so as Mr. Kelby said a while back, it feels like Dev-con 4 around here.

But not a big problem for our loyal readers, because I going to pull a slight "Tonight Show" strategy to get the posting completed for today - I running a slight re-run. I know, you are asking - what a "slight" re-run? Well, here is the story - I posted a quick short cut for dodging and burning on November 13, and put a link to a Photoshop tutorial that never officially ran on the site. Only a few of our readers even checked it out.

So, trusty readers, I am going to officially post that tutorial right here - today. You can thank me later in endless comments to the post for bringing it to your full attention this time. Besides, I think it's a really nice tutorial. After this weekend, things hopefully slow down a bit here - and I promise an extra special "Technique Tuesday" - next week.

Today's Technique - The Burn and Dodge Photoshop Cha-Cha

This Photoshop Tutorial shows 3 ways to Burn and Dodge in Photoshop. Each method is discussed as to it's best application in your work flow. There are three BONUS tips along the way too. You can also click directly on the "video" to see a larger view. Enjoy! --David

Turn on the Lights in My LightRoom

Hey gang, here is one really good article from my buddy Matt Kloskowski, over at Lightroom Killers Tips. He answers the burning question - Why Lightroom (instead of Bridge). Give it a read right here - this article is getting a lot of buzz.

But wait, there's more. Here a really good Lightroom tutorial on using the "Synchronize" command - that is applying "Develop" settings over several photos right here. George Jardine has a pretty cool site dedicated to Lightroom and Digital Photography - lot's of good stuff over there - check it out.

Christmas Is a 'Coming -

As Tiny Tim exclaimed, "God Bess Us One and All" - for this wonderful set of 11 Photoshop Christmas tutorials right here. Looking for a little fun after a long day of Christmas shopping? What could be more satisfying and relaxing than just sitting down with the a cup of hot spicy cider, shortbread cookies, and Christmas Photoshop. Hey, you heard it here first - Enjoy, everybody. I got to go - another appointment in about an hour. See ya' tomorrow, --David

If You Don't Need the Business - Don't Read This Article

Here is a great story by Shane Pearlman over at Freelance Switch entitled, "Business Survival Guide: Eight Practices of a Long Term Freelancer" right here. This should be a must read for anyone wanting to run a successful business - freelance, wedding, portrait - actually any business. The points are universal for success. Hey, it's Technique Tuesday, and good business techniques sure do qualify for today's post - a great read.

"Inspiration"
© David A. Ziser
I made this image while we were driving to the airport this past Saturday morning on our way home from Cabo San Lucas. It was raining the day before - quite an oddity for this time of year in Cabo, and continued throughout the night. That morning the clouds started to clear and we were presented with this wonderful display of God's light. LaDawn and I call this a "drive by shooting" as we fly along the road and I'm photographing out the window. The foreground usually blurs, but in this case, we went over a small rise that put most of the foreground out of the image area and gave me a clear view of the clouds and sun rays. Camera specs: Canon 40D with 17- 85mm IS lens at 59mm; F18 @ 1/640 second at ISO 400. Enjoy! --David

Monday Musings (Sounds hokey, but it's the best I could come up with on a Monday morning)

Good Morning Everybody,
LaDawn and I made it back to Cincy safe and sound Saturday night and it seems we've hit the ground flying. We had a client stop by for a good bit of Sunday afternoon as we helped her get several images together for a school activities meeting she had to attend by 5:30 p.m. We had a nice visit but we still need to unpack the suit cases.

This week is kind of a "hump" for the studio. We have a "huge" Bat Mitzvah for a very wonderful client this coming weekend. The biggest part of the job is not the weekend shoot, it's designing, printing, and prepping eight 4' x 8 ' banners of our delightful Bat Mitzvah to hang at the reception venue. Heck, it takes 4 hours just to print one on my Epson 9600 - sounds like a little midnight oil might be needed for this project. So much for vacation!!

This whole exercise could be a "Technique Tuesday" in itself. Hey, maybe next week. I will keep you posted as to the project's progress as we travel through the week - it's good exercise in Photoshop, Photography, and marketing. Anyway, more on this later, how about we get started with the week...

Creative Thinking On Creativity

wet paint
Originally uploaded by jaki good

My articles last week garnered some really great comments from some of our readers, particularly Brian Auer over at Epic Edits. Brian runs one of the most successful photo-blogs out there and you owe it to yourself to check out EpicEdits right here. He left a couple of really good suggestions that speak to the three articles I posted last week. If you missed my articles, you can check them out again - here are my "Creativity" links again.
How To Get the Brain Juices Flowing, Too Many Choices Too Little Time, Give Yourself Some Homework.

Brian suggested participating in projects hosted by the mass of photography bloggers out there. He mentioned Trevor Carpenter's December Challenge right here. Trevor is challenging photographers to take a portrait a day for the entire month of December - sounds like quite an undertaking to me - but it's this kind of stuff that gets the creative juices flowing, makes you a better photographer, and is fun all at the same time. Hey Brian, thanks for the tip. By the way, he also has a nice Photoshop tutorial he just posted today - check out the Photoshop tip right here.

Waiting for the Light

It's not always about wedding photography around here. If you follow this blog regularly, you know that it's mostly about wedding and portrait photography, but not always. This blog is also about ideas and techniques that make us a better thinking photographer - and then by default, a better wedding and portrait photographer. That's why I share this next story - Time On My Side - with you. It continues to reflect on my three articles last week about Creativity. This article talks about taking time, time to get the best image. In this article written by Craig Varjabedian, a wonderful fine art photographer, you get to peek into his brain about how he thinks about creating his beautiful images. It's a bit philosophical, but still a good read if you are still on - or need to get on - a creativity binge. Here is the link to the "Time Is On My Side article right here.

And Still On Creativity

If you still need a little "self kick in the pants - check out "60 Sources of Inspiration" over at Photoprenuer. This is a great list of ideas for getting the creative juices flowing regardless of which part of this profession you are involved.

Creative Thinking - Here is the Best Post of the Day!!!

Light Speed Escalators - here on earth - this is indeed one of my favorite creativity posts. Fellow blogger, Brian Shaler, has put together one of the best "Out of the Box" thinking exercises in this photo tutorials. Check out his complete post on how he made this image right here. Or just play the video below - it will leave a smile on your face. Way to go Brian - thumbs up on your video. Hey gang, got to go and get working on those banners. See everybody tomorrow for Technique Tuesday. Have a good one, --David